


The Clear Line

by squireofgeekdom



Series: Herobard [2]
Category: The Flash, The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Earth 0, Gen, Herobard
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-19
Updated: 2017-04-19
Packaged: 2018-10-20 19:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,189
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10668975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/squireofgeekdom/pseuds/squireofgeekdom
Summary: “People don’t understand the word ruthless. They think it means ‘mean.’ It’s not about being mean. It’s about seeing the bright, clear line that leads from A to B. The line that goes from motive to means. Beginning to end.” - Katherine Applegate“You’ll choose to be a hero.”“Like you?”“Like *you*.” [The Reverse of Destiny]What it means for another Eobard Thawne to be a hero, and still be himself.A birthday present for Kamemor, which really, really doesn't make sense without the previous fic in the series.





	The Clear Line

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kamemor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kamemor/gifts).



> Seriously, read The Reverse of Destiny first. 
> 
> This is set in a significantly changed Flash universe, which Kamemor, Rimahadley, and I dubbed Earth 0. Apart from an Eobard Thawne who's a hero going by the codename Spark, the original Harrison Wells and Tess Morgan are still alive, Hartley's still with the team, and there's an expanded Flashfam lineup that includes Wally West, Jesse Quick, Bart Allen and Jenni Ognats.

“No!”

 

Everyone turns to look at Eobard. 

 

“No - are you -  _ no.  _ That’s an - un - unacceptable plan. No.” 

 

In the background, the message loops through plays again, a masked person holding a high tech gun as dozens of hostages cower in the background. ‘ _ Flash. It’s time for you to die - unless you’d rather they all die in your place.’  _ the voice says, distorted, ‘ _ The waterfront. Alone. 30 minutes.”  _  and then the masked figure aims their gun at the camera and the feed cuts to static. 

 

“Eo, you  _ saw  _ those people -” Barry says. “I can’t just let them die.”

 

“You’re the first to say that we cannot put personal attachment ahead of saving civilian lives,” Harrison says, wheeling around the desk. “There are -”

 

“I know how many civilians there are!” Eobard knots his hands together behind his head. “This is - this isn’t about one hostage situation.”

 

“Guys -” Cisco says, “We’re running out of time here.”

 

“I have to go. Eobard -”

 

“No you don’t!”

 

“Why?” Barry waves at Harrison. “He’s right, you always say that we can’t put one life ahead of many. My life isn’t worth more than theirs.”

 

“ _ Yes it is! _ ” Eobard yells, wheeling around. “You don’t know - none of you do! You - you’re not going to save dozens of lives, you’re going to save millions - you’re going to save the whole world!” He catches his breath, looks at Barry. “If you go, you might -  _ might -  _ save their lives, but you’ll kill everyone you saved in the future.”

 

“We don’t know that Barry will -” Caitlin starts,

 

“I know what that gun does to speedsters.” Eobard says, waving his hand at the screen, still looping through the video. “Going in there is a death sentence.” 

 

“You’ve seen it before?” Tess asks. Eobard nods and doesn’t elaborate.

 

“Maybe -” Cisco starts, and Eobard twists his watch and tosses a holographic projection of the gun at Cisco, who stops talking to inspect it. 

 

“You can’t go.” Eobard says.

 

“I can’t just let those people die!” Barry yells, slamming his hands down on the desk. 

 

“ _ I can’t let you die!”  _ Eobard shouts back. 

 

“So you want me to just sit here while these people die?”

 

“ _ Why not _ ?” Eobard says. “You sit here while people die  _ all the time. _ There are people dying right now in other cities, other countries, that you could save if you were there. What makes their lives less worthy than the lives of these people? What makes the millions you save in the future less worthy than these eighty-six people? Why is their potential less important? Because I could tell you some of their futures -”

 

“Eobard -” Tess starts.

 

“Do these people become more important because you’ve seen their faces? Do you want me to show you the faces of the people I  _ know _ you saved? Because the list starts with mine.”

 

Barry shakes his head like he’s trying to clear water from his ears. “Just because we can’t save everyone doesn’t mean we walk away from people in need!”

 

“ _ That’s not the point! _ ”

 

“Uh, guys?” Cisco says, and they both turn to look at him, “Really running out of time now.” 

 

Barry wheels back around, stepping towards Eobard. “What is this - you’re just trying to stall, so I can’t go in time?”

 

“I’m trying to get you - I’m trying to get all of you - to see  _ sense _ !”

 

“Look, I don’t know how you go about being a hero in the future -”

 

“I don’t have to be like you to be a hero.” Eobard says, half to himself “You - you’ll understand that. You already did.”

 

“Yeah, well I’m starting to understand why every other Eobard Thawne is a villain.”

 

All of the blood drains out of Eobard’s face. 

 

“I’m going,” Barry says, and speeds out of the room. 

 

Eobard stands there, frozen, then pivots, swinging his arm across the table and knocking all of the equipment to the floor - a gesture of anger, Tess realizes, that  he picked up from Harrison.

 

Eobard holds up the hand he had just used to hit the table, fingers shaking - vibrating, properly - and closes his fist, tucking it to his chest. “Sorry.” He says to the room at large, before speeding away. 

 

Tess looks at Harrison, and a second of eye contact is enough for them to have a game plan. 

 

Tess follows Eobard while Harrison directs the room. “Wally, follow Barry at a distance, we don’t want to spook him if we don’t need to, Jesse, you’re staying here, we might need to get something on site quickly. Cisco, what do you have on that gun -?”

 

Tess isn’t surprised to find Eobard in his lab, phasing his hand back and forth through the solid metal of his desk.

 

“Eobard?”

 

“Hm?” Eobard turns around, hand still frozen in the middle of the desk, and maybe that would never stop being uncanny for her.

 

“What Barry said -” Tess says, “None of us think like that, not even Barry. I know it’s no excuse to say he was upset, but -”

 

“It’s alright. I’m used to - Michael sometimes - “ Eobard shakes his head. “It’s always been like that. Thinking on the - the clear line, where nothing else makes sense. I think - I think maybe I always knew that was why I was never going to be the Flash.”

 

“Eobard -”

 

“ _ Never going to be the Flash. _ ” He repeats to himself under his breath, like he’s just had a revelation. “They want  _ the Flash -  _ Dr. Morgan, I’m sorry, I have to go -” He says, sticking his hand through the desk and grabbing something before he disappears. 

 

She jogs back into the central control room. 

 

Barry’s voice crackles over the coms.  _ “I’m almost there, guys.” _

 

Jesse is bouncing on her toes by the console, Cisco is nowhere to be seen, which probably means he’s still working on the gun. Hartley’s gone too. Harrison looks up at her, a question on his face.

 

“He just ran off, Harrison -”

 

There’s a sudden burst of static on Barry’s comm line, and then Wally’s voice bursts in. “ _ Guys, I can’t see Barry - _ ”

 

“Where’s Eobard?” Tess asks.

 

“Spark’s beacon is still showing up as in STAR labs,” Jesse says, leaning over the console. “Spark, come in.” 

 

Static. Tess runs over to the crevice where the suit usually sits, and it’s still there. “He left the suit -”

 

“Eobard’s stubborn, but he wouldn’t -” Harrison starts, before Wally’s voice cuts in.

 

“ _ Guys - guys, I see him,”  _

 

“Barry, Barry, come in,” Harrison says, leaning over the mic. “What happened?”

 

Static.

 

“ _ He’s waving. I think there’s a problem with comms.” _

 

“Alright. Keep your distance, Wally.”

 

“ _ He’s heading into the warehouse. I can’t see him. _ ”

 

Cisco bursts into the room, Hartley on his heels. “We got it!”

 

“Good!” Harrison and Tess say in unison, as Jesse bounds up to take the device from Cisco. 

 

“Wally, can you see anything that’s happening?” Tess asks. 

 

“ _ He’s in the warehouse, I don’t -  _ “

 

“ _ Guys? _ ” Barry’s voice crackles over the comms. 

 

“Barry? What’s going on in there?”

 

“ _ Guys - it’s not me. I’m not in there. He - it’s Eobard.” _

 

\---

 

There’s a deep irony, Eobard thinks, to the fact that he’s knocking out Barry in order to save his life, but it doesn’t compare to the irony of  _ Eobard Thawne  _ hurting the Flash while trying to be a hero. 

 

He pulls back his vibrating fist, steadies himself until it is perfectly still. “Sorry Barry,” he says, “But it’s better if you’re unconscious for this,”

 

The transfer wouldn’t do any serious  _ damage _ , but it wasn’t exactly pleasant - he’d done his best, but there wasn’t exactly a way to make stealing someone’s appearance painless. 

 

A uniform change and - he  _ is  _ the Flash.

 

Somewhere in the future, his younger self’s heart must have skipped a beat. 

 

“It’s okay Barry,” He says to Barry’s unconscious body, propped up against a tree, “I’m the one who’s not supposed to be here.” 

 

It’s strange to hear Barry’s voice come out as he speaks. But if there was a way to go out - well, there were worse ways to go out than fulfilling your childhood self’s dream, right?

 

He taps his hand to the Flash insignia on his chest and runs towards the warehouse. He catches a glimpse of Wally, waves at him to indicate that everything’s okay.

 

Wally doesn’t yell out  _ “That’s Eobard Thawne, somebody stop him! _ ” so he guesses the subterfuge passes muster. 

 

Well, no turning back now.

 

The gun is the first thing he sees when he enters the warehouse.

 

“Flash,” The masked person says. “Cutting it a little close, aren’t you?”

 

“I’m here.” Eobard says, “Let these people go.” 

 

He takes his eyes off the gun to look up and down the group of hostages - no obvious injuries, nothing that should stop them from getting out of the building safely, no clear signs of traps or restrains, just two other goons with guns. 

 

“Of course,” The masked person says, stepping closer, raising the barrel of the gun -

 

And that’s when all hell breaks loose. 

 

\---

 

“What were you  _ thinking? _ ” Barry yells at Eobard.

 

Caitlin’s hovering behind Barry, trying to get him to keep an ice pack on the bruise on his face. Eobard is propped up in the medbay bed, having reverted back to his normal appearance.

 

“They wanted the Flash for the hostages,” Eobard says, for a third time. “So if I went in as the Flash, both you and the hostages were saved.”

 

“Yes, but -” Barry drags his hand down his face.

 

“Eobard, if I hadn’t figured out how to stop the gun, you would have died.” Cisco says.

 

“Yes. And Barry would have, too, if he had gone in there.”

 

“But -” Barry starts, and then grimaces.

 

“Instead of eighty-six lives to save yours, I would have spent one. It was a better option - I don’t know why I didn’t think of it earlier -”

 

“Eobard - it was  _ you _ .”

 

“Yes.” Eobard says, beginning to get frustrated with how they seem to be going in circles. “You were ready to sacrifice yourself for much the same reason, I don’t understand why -”

 

“But you didn’t  _ have to.” _

 

“Neither did you.” Eobard says. “Really, since I’m not from this timeline - or this time - my death wouldn’t have nearly the impact of any of theirs, and -”

 

Barry groans. “We’re talking about this later. When my  _ head  _ isn’t throbbing.”

 

“I did apologize for that!”

 

\---

 

It’s not until the next day that Barry finds him in his lab.

 

“Hey,” Eobard turns around from his tinkering - more of a distraction than anything productive, really - at the sound of Barry’s voice. “How are you feeling?”

 

“I - fine, thank you. How - are you?”

 

Barry taps his face. “Healed up fine.” He says, grinning.

 

“I’m glad.” Eobard says, fidgeting with the cube in his hands.

 

Barry seems unsure of himself as well. “Listen, I just - I thought a lot and I just - I want to say my piece and then if you want me to get out of your lab I will, I just -”

 

Eobard tilts his head, waiting. Better to just get it over with quickly. 

 

“You’re - what you said about being from another time - that’s - you’re not worth less here because you’re not from this time. We wouldn’t sacrifice Bart or Jenni before anyone else, and I know you wouldn’t either, so the same applies to you. You’re just as much of this team - of this  _ family - _ as anyone. And don’t,” He holds up a hand to stave off argument, “Tell me about causality and the future, because you already changed the future when you came here. You’re in this as must as the rest of us. And -” Barry adds, “Speaking of changing the future - you can’t keep weighing my life based on what the me in your future did, alright? You’re the one that always says the future isn’t fixed. If you had based your choices on what a future you did -”

 

Eobard shakes his head, trying to head off that discussion. “It’s not -”

 

“I know it’s not the same. But -” Barry sighs. “Look, what I said - I was wrong. The other Thawnes - you’re nothing like them. We may not always see eye to eye, but - you’ve never put yourself first, like they do. You were willing to sacrifice yourself to save others, and that’s - that’s what being a hero is about, at the end of the day.” Barry fidgets. “That’s - that’s what I had. To say, I mean.”

 

Eobard looks down. “Thank you.” He says, hands wrapped tightly around the cube.

 

Barry shuffles his feet and turns to leave, then swivels back around. “About you changing the future - I - I’m glad you did.” He says. “You make me a better hero.” 

 

He turns to go again, but before he makes it to the door Eobard finds a way to form words around the lump in his throat. “Barry?”

 

“Yeah,”

 

“You know this, but,” Eobard says.  “You make me better, too.”

 

Barry smiles. “Thanks, Eo.”

 

When Barry leaves the room, Eobard leans over in his chair, hands still wrapped around the cube, and presses his knuckles to his chest, right where the Flash insignia had been. 

 

It feels warm. His heart’s still beating in his chest.

 

He’s alive, and he’s okay.


End file.
